Game:

Minecraft (2011)

Category:

Guide

Duration: 49:55

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92

https://www.patreon.com/ulillillia --- Level design is my most favorite part to work on with game design. If I could take up any position with a professional game design company, I'd take up level design. For Baricanna, I use the actual game itself for building levels with and there's a lot of information to work with. Levels are built using blocks. A block is a 16x16-pixel area in a given level. When the level editor is activated, blocks are filled with numbers. The left side has the left linking and the right has the right linking. The center 2 going down is the object's ID. Linking is used with collision detection. A 0 on that side means the side has full collision for it. A 1 means that the side has collision disabled. A 2 means that collision is disabled for the top and bottom as well. 2s are used for filler... or secret passages (a common element in platformer games is that you can go through some walls as a hidden passage is there, often leading to something valuable. The ID is only applicable to fixed level objects rather than dynamic objects. Dynamic objects use the area from 0x80 and onward. Note that this ID number is hexadecimal.
The controls for using the level builder are kind of numerous, since there are a lot of controls, but I tried to make it as straightforward as possible. Most objects have 0, 1, 2, or, rarely, 3 parameters. Only platforms and NPCs have more than 3. Platforms have 6, plus 2 extra for each node they have. NPCs I don't have support for creating yet since I need to make a menu for them due to them having a whopping 38 parameters to set. The arrow keys are used to move around, the shift and control keys have their own functions (left control places, left shift quick deletes, right control toggles quick inquiry mode, right shift copies the object's parameters), and the numpad is used mainly for manipulating the 3 main parameters. As I work with each object, debug-related info is provided so I know what's what and how to work something. For increase or decrease, data A is set using the 4 and 1, B with the 5 and 2, and C with the 6 and 3. /, *, and - for the arithmetic functions are used to quickly set left, middle, or right edges on terrain blocks. The 0 is used to bulk reset the 3 data values to 0s. The + is used to mark a start point then end point for what to bulk fill with. M is used to toggle midground filler mode. 1 and 2 on the main number row are used to switch pages on the debug panel while 3 and 4 are used to toggle between objects. I can hold down these to quickly cycle through pages. Tab is used to save the level map data and Q is used to toggle frame advance mode where W advances a cycle (1/240 second) and F advances 4 cycles at once (1/60 second). R is used to toggle the display of the numbers, A toggles the display of the level map template overlay, and Z toggles the normal-size level map template.
The level template is only a template, a guideline for how the level is to be laid out. Each object has some sort of representation for it. I had enemies marked on it, but I need to rework that due to conflicts I encountered (such as enemies can't go on platforms and I often generally never really regarded for platforms in the level design so I often make changes that more or less keep to the same original intended path. If I think of something really special, I may make bigger changes. Secret passages were often excluded as I didn't think it was possible when I first made the wilderness level maps. My test levels do not have a template for them.
I also have a debug menu where I can manipulate just about every single aspect of the game on demand. I can change sets however I see fit, learn or unlearn abilities or spells, activate or deactivate status effects on demand, among others. It's actually not yet complete though because I need the combat system and enemies implemented first.
At the end, I showcase 2 songs - my final boss song is the first one where I make use of Lake Shelly's terrain and the new splash particle system. Maximillian Dubman's song for Helina Forest follows afterward. During the Lake Shelly case, I simulate defeating only great demons on newbie difficulty through repeatedly reopening a treasure chest (from resetting it via the T key, a debug tool). During the Helina Forest part, I work on building part of the level map for Helina Forest itself, a level map that is about 60% complete overall.

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